Nehawu calls for ANC to ban VBS-linked looters

SOUTH Africa’s biggest public sector union, Nehawu, has called on the ANC to spread the removal of those implicated in the VBS Mutual Bank looting scandal to all provinces, and to ban them from the party’s political activities.

This week, the Cosatu affiliate held its last central executive committee meeting, in which it concluded its work for the year and crafted a programme for next year.

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union’s call is for “full and immediate implementation” of the ANC integrity commission’s recommendation that all party members implicated in the VBS corruption saga be removed from all responsibilities in the public service and the party.

This comes as seven mayors were fired in Limpopo for investing more than R2.6 billion with the now liquidated VBS Mutual Bank, more than R1bn of which is yet to be recovered.

The ANC’s Danny Msiza, who was dubbed by the SA Reserve Bank’s report the kingpin behind the kickbacks given by VBS Bank officials to those who facilitated the depositing of municipal funds into the bank, also announced his resignation on Tuesday.

Nehawu general secretary Zola Saphetha said the ANC’s campaign for next year’s general elections would be tainted if it did not ban all those implicated from the party’s activities.

“The national union holds a strong view that keeping such comrades in our midst creates a hazard to our campaign for votes,” Saphetha said.

Nehawu said it would push, through Cosatu, for their key demands to be reflected in the ANC’s manifesto, to be launched in Durban next month.

These included accelerated implementation of the National Health Insurance and Comprehensive Social Security system, an end to outsourcing and a stand against privatisation, especially at SAA and Eskom.

Saphetha said the union was alarmed by the power crisis at Eskom and the return of load shedding.

“While we applaud (former finance minister) Nhlanhla Nene for his refusal to commit the Treasury to the Zuma-Putin nuclear energy procurement deal, equally, a catastrophic development in the electricity sector is still unfolding.”

Saphetha said Nehawu would back Cosatu’s planned “socio-economic strike” in defence of Eskom’s coal electricity generation.

“The National Union of Mineworkers sponsored the resolution because there is an ongoing privatisation of electricity generation through foreign-owned, private, Independent Power Producers, which Eskom is indirectly forced to subsidise,” he said.